Hi all, my first post here (moved from predecessor forum), hope it's in the right area.

I recently did a complete install of OpenBSD 4.3 for i386. Setup is pretty much default. I'm having a problem with Xorg; it runs fine but when I exit it (either temporarily with Ctrl-Alt-Fn, or permanently) I find the wsconsoles have no text on them anymore. They're still active, so I can reboot cleanly, but just can't see anything.

Video card is an ATI rage128 AGP w. 32 MB.
Yes, machdep.allowaperture=2 (also tried =1, same problem).
This happens with or without an xorg.conf file, even just running X, but also startx and xdm; as root or user too.

Anyone had this happen? Or more to the point anyone have a good idea what to do? I can try to post more info as needed.

The standard key sequence for exiting X is Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. What happens when you use this instead?

Yes, the same thing happens when I use that (by "exiting permanently" I had meant to cover that possibility). So to recap and extend a bit, it happens with Ctrl-Alt-Fn (in this case I can get back to X that way), and also with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace or by exiting an X session by killing the last client.

Quote:

It may also be worth reviewing Section 11.3 of the FAQ:

Have done that also; that's where I got the ideas of running just X and using no config file, or the "Xorg -configure" generated file.

Quote:

Originally Posted by unicyclist

I had that happen on my 4.2 box before upgrading to 4.3. I never found a solution, but IIRC, I could type "reset" and then I would have a prompt.

Yesterday, I upgraded to OpenBSD 4.5 -release, and the problem was gone!

Kudos to the folks for whom it's all in a day's work to fix this sort of thing.

Unfortunately, the ending is not entirely happy, as I also installed NetBSD 5.0, which has just switched to using Xorg, and the exact same problem is now occurring there. At least this fix provides some hope for that (assuming there is really no universal conservation law of dead console video ).

Sure seems like it is. I can try setting it to 16 bits. Normally I use 24, *but* the prior tests also used either the config file generated with the -configure flag, or no config file at all, and I'm not sure at the moment what depths those set.

Thanks also for your diff in the next post! I'll have to experiment with that and other things more to see what happens. (I'm also having some other issues with 5.0, so it could take a while.)

The GENERIC kernel with the modified patch (as above) works beautifully, text is restored on leaving X. Thank you again BSDfan666, you really identified exactly the right information!

After that, I compiled a generic kernel with frame-buffer console video enabled plus the above patch. This one continues to exhibit the problem (same as without patch). This case probably won't be so easy, without an existing fix to copy over. Oh well, enough progress for one day.

[Note to moderators: feel free to move the last few posts to a similarly named thread in the NetBSD sub-forum if appropriate.]

I did include that variable definition in my patch, but it might have been in the wrong place.. I'm glad it worked out for you, it might be a good idea to submit this upstream so they can fix it in a later release.